Wave has enabled Koja’s factory in Jalasjärvi to reduce energy costs by 80%

Major investments in production in Jalasjärvi

Koja produces air handling units and heat exchangers for buildings and ships in Jalasjärvi. In addition to the new factory building in connection with the plant that has been in operation for more than 20 years, millions of euros have been invested in machinery, equipment and production automation. The improvements aim at sustainable operational development to better respond to customers’ needs. 

-    Combating climate change and strengthening productivity are at the core of everything. It was clear that we would invest strongly in these themes in connection with the Jalasjärvi property project,” says Joonas Lius, CEO of Chiller Oy and Business Director, Buildings at Koja.

The new factory in Jalasjärvi focuses on manufacturing heat exchangers. It was inaugurated in early 2024.  Machine installations and arrangements have been carried out during the spring, but production is already fully operational. 

The Wave solution optimizes building technology in the new factory in Jalasjärvi

As the plant investment coincided with the development of Wave, the factory building has been an excellent opportunity to pilot a next-generation technology solution. The use of renewable energy forms has been the focus of the construction of the new factory from the very beginning. Smart energy recycling, geothermal energy, solar energy and emission-free electricity constitute a sustainable whole. 

-    The Wave solution optimizes building technology and primarily uses the internal energy flows of the property. It also makes indoor air quality and the carbon footprint caused by the conditions visible to users, Lius explains.

In practice, Wave consists of three parts: Selector, System and Evidencer. 

-    As their names suggest, the parts reflect the use of Wave at various stages of the project. The Jalasjärvi factory is a completely new building, but Wave is equally suitable for renovation and modernization projects, says Lius.

SELECTOR is a technology selector used in the project planning phase to choose the technology that meets the targets set for the property, primarily using internal energy flows in the building. SYSTEM, the selected technology system, consists of Koja and Chiller products with intelligent automation and ready-made interfaces for analytics. The EVIDENCER analytics platform makes it possible to monitor the carbon footprint, energy efficiency and indoor conditions of the planned site.

-    Wave can also be seen as a technological umbrella that brings together a set of measures into a consistent whole. The property owner can be sure that the system will work regardless of the circumstances, and that support is always available, says Taneli Timlin, Chief Technology Officer at Koja.

Wave enables considerable savings while also being a technology solution that promotes sustainable development. 

-    Compared with a factory with a typical energy system, the need for purchased energy at the Jalasjärvi plant is 80% lower. Reducing the consumption of purchased energy is the most effective way to reduce emissions from the built environment, as there is no need to produce saved energy, says Timlin.

The environmental impact of Koja’s products also plays a significant role. It is reflected in the achievement of customers’ energy and environmental targets.

-    The carbon footprint of manufactured products is lower when their lifecycle emissions include no emissions from production, Timlin explains.

Wave consists entirely of Finnish smart products 

The Wave solution at the Jalasjärvi factory consists of Koja’s and Chiller’s own products, which have been developed and manufactured in Finland. Koja and Chiller are part of Koja Group. The energy station for cooling and heating and the air handling units are controlled by intelligent automation and have interfaces for analytics.

The NovaDual energy station developed by Chiller is a factory-ready solution for cooling and heating a building on a single device. The indoor-installed devices in the Nova series are equipped in accordance with the safety concept and enable the reliable and safe use of new environmentally friendly refrigerants. NovaDual produces and distributes cooling and heating to the building’s networks, which have different temperatures, and enables an energy-efficient water supply. 

-    The device receives heating energy from the cooling network and the geothermal energy field, which is also used for free cooling. All the functionalities required for the device are determined in the selection program. This makes design, installation and commissioning very easy.

Products from the Future® S series are used as air handling units in the system, and the production facilities are served by a larger modular Future® unit. All the air handling units run on the new KojaControl automation, with a modern web-based interface that runs smoothly on any device. The automation provides energy consumption calculations and interfaces for upper-level automation systems and Wave analytics. The functionalities of the unit are determined in the selection program, on the basis of which high-quality documentation is generated. The delivery to the site consists of elements that have already been tested.

-    Our products are designed for challenging northern conditions. It’s very important to us that they run reliably regardless of the conditions and produce energy even in the most severe subzero temperatures, when society needs it the most and the price is at its highest, says Timlin.

A user-friendly solution for monitoring buildings

The plant was inaugurated in early 2024, so the operation of its overall system has now been monitored comprehensively for a few months. Wave Evidencer is an analytics platform for real-time monitoring and verification of the on-site energy consumption, carbon footprint and indoor conditions. The data collected by the system is compared with the manufacturer’s data.

-    Wave is highly and even surprisingly practical. It enables us to see where the building’s energy is used and how much energy can be recovered. Analytics verify that one unit of purchased energy can produce five units of energy to be used, says Timo Sepponen, Factory Director at Jalasjärvi.

Significant investments have been made in energy measurements in the factory building and the measures taken based on the measurements, and energy efficiency has been a significant criterion when making investment decisions. Measurement points have also been built for each significant production machine. For the property owner, the system interface is clear and easy to use. 

-    Wave can be used to reduce the operational costs of the plant, but it also improves the indoor conditions, which is significant. For example, the cooling of production facilities increases employees’ job satisfaction, Sepponen points out.

The operations of the Jalasjärvi heat exchanger plant are under active monitoring. Through Wave Evidencer, after registration, anyone can view the operations of the system as an example.

-    Wave is definitely a powerful tool for the person responsible for monitoring the energy consumption of a building. Delivery on promises concerning the future can be verified with the help of the system,” says Sepponen.

Would you like to hear more about the Wave Solution?

Contact Wave sales. Our experts are here to help you!

Email: sales@wavesolution.fi 

•    Sauli Syrjänen, Sales Manager, Koja Oy, tel. +358 40 557 8774
•    Janne Jokivuori, Sales Manager, Koja Oy, tel. +358 50 341 1946
•    Saku Paalanen, Sales Engineer, Chiller Oy, tel. +358 40 620 2488

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